Box Office: The Meg takes a huge bite out of the box office (August 10th, 2018)

Blowing everyone out of the water, “The Meg” surpassed expectations this weekend, with a stellar $45.4 million debut, way about the $23.5 million pundits were expecting, making the race with “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” which had a third weekend of $19.3 million, a non-starter. “Christopher Robin” landed Number Three with $12.9 million. Finishing out the Top Five were both newcomers with “Slender Man” landing a little lower than expected at $11.3 million, which, if it had landed at the $15.5 million mark like it was projected to, it would have taken third place, and Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman,” which opened to $10.8 million and will likely have some staying power as we begin to transition into Awards Season. “Dog Days,” which opened on Wednesday, landed at Number 12 with $2.5 million, bringing its week long cume to $3.5 million, which would have only moved it up a spot had it all been over the weekend. The Chinese comedy “The Island” was the last newcomer of the week, finishing at Number 23 with $263,412. It will be lucky to hang on next week.

Off the list, newcomer “Skate Kitchen” took the per theater average win with an average of $18,065 in one theater. Fellow newcomer, which was also off the list, “Madeline’s Madeline” was not far behind with an average of $18,009, also only in one theater. “The Meg” was the on-the-list winner, with an average of $11,025 per 4,118 theaters, while “BlacKkKlansman” was right behind with an average of $7,173 per 1,512 theaters. Nothing within the list moved up this weekend, leaving no percentage increase winner. Falling off the list the hardest was “Unfriended: Dark Web” which took a -85.7% dip and an eighteen spot drop. Also off the list was “Along With The Gods: The Last 49 Days,” which only lasted a week within the Top 25, along with “Leave No Trace” and “Sicario: Day Of The Soldado,” both in their seventh weekends, and the fall of the titan “Avengers: Infinity War” which will hit home video tomorrow and hit digital a few weeks ago already, finally falling off the list after sixteen weeks.

Nothing will touch the Megalodon next weekend, which will likely finish somewhere around $22.5 million if it takes a 50% drop. Mark Wahlberg’s latest film “Mile 22” will be aiming for $18 million while “Crazy Rich Asians” is looking at $14.5 million, putting them both at second and third place. “Alpha” will be looking for a $7 million, which I find generous. That could possibly put it at Number Five, looking to beat “Christopher Robin” but likely to lose against “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” in its fourth weekend. “Blindspotting” and “Ocean’s 8” were lucky to hang on this weekend, so those will almost definitely be falling off the list, along with the one and done “The Island” after just one week. If “Juliet, Naked” happens to land on the list, look for “The First Purge” to possibly take the plunge off the list.

#	Title	Weekend	Total	Budget	Week	LW	CH
1	The Meg (WB)	$45,402,195	($45,402,195)	$130m	1st	N
2	Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Par)	$19,352,090	($161,319,374)	$178m	3rd	#1
3	Christopher Robin (BV)	$12,960,057	($50,549,374)	$75m*	2nd	#2
4	Slender Man (SGem)	$11,371,866	($11,371,866)	$10m	1st	N
5	BlacKkKlansman (Focus)	$10,845,330	($10,845,330)	$15m	1st	N
6	The Spy Who Dumped Me (LGF)	$6,462,612	($24,422,997)	$40m	2nd	#3
7	Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Uni)	$5,861,715	($103,870,915)	$75m	4th	#4
8	The Equalizer 2 (Sony)	$5,408,237	($89,554,165)	$62m	4th	#5
9	Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (Sony)	$5,210,815	($146,988,206)	$80m	5th	#6
10	Ant-Man and the Wasp (BV)	$4,103,636	($203,573,980)	$162m*	6th	#7
11	Incredibles 2 (BV)	$3,429,388	($589,771,988)	$200m*	9th	#9
12	Dog Days (LD)	$2,554,766	($3,595,738)	$10m*	1st	N
13	The Darkest Minds (Fox)	$2,142,645	($10,988,197)	$34m	2nd	#8
14	Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Uni)	$1,986,530	($409,656,475)	$170m	8th	#11
15	Teen Titans Go! To The Movies (WB)	$1,824,852	($25,601,396)	$10m	3rd	#10
16	Eighth Grade (A24)	$1,587,299	($10,054,342)	**	5th	#12
17	Death Of A Nation (QF)	$987,906	($4,521,847)	**	2nd	#13
18	Three Identical Strangers (Neon)	$734,314	($9,719,905)	**	7th	#15
19	Skyscraper (Uni)	$674,430	($66,185,305)	$125m	5th	#14
20	Sorry to Bother You (AnnaP)	$419,714	($15,800,118)	$3.2m*	6th	#17
21	Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Focus)	$345,605	($21,675,492)	**	10th	#19
22	The First Purge (Uni)	$285,545	($68,469,005)	$13m	6th	#16
23	The Island (2018) (WGUSA)	$263,412	($263,412)	**	1st	N
24	Ocean’s 8 (WB)	$255,077	($138,450,545)	$70m	10th	#22
25	Blindspotting (LG/S)	$226,939	($3,784,972)	**	4th	#18

***ALL DOMESTIC NUMBERS FROM BOX OFFICE MOJO***

OFF THE CHARTS THIS WEEK

(OFFICIALLY CLOSED)